The Simple Food Changes That Give Me More Energy | Nutrition Scientist Dr Sarah Berry

She’s one of the world’s top nutrition scientists, but how does Dr Sarah Berry live her life behind the scenes? We join her for a typical day in her life at her home in London to find out.

From sleep to stress, eating to exercise, Sarah explains how conducting groundbreaking nutrition science impacts how she lives every day.

Sarah is an associate professor at King’s College London and has run more than 30 human nutrition studies. Most notably, she’s the lead nutritional scientist for PREDICT — the world’s largest in-depth nutritional research program.

Have more questions for Sarah? Let us know in the comments below 👇

[Clarkfamilyorchards]

As others have said, backing track too loud. Try 10% instead of 50% in the editor my dudes.

[robwoodphotos]

I look forward to Zoe films and love the common sense, yet informed, views of Sarah. However, why did we have to have that silly music distracting us?!

[ardznails]

Sarah says she never realised why her energy levels went up and down like a yo-yo until she wore a continuous glucose monitor. And this, despite being a nutritionist! I worked out that this glucose spike thing and drop in energy was related to high refined carbs in the early 90s before she even started her career and changed my diet then. Several relatives thought me weird and obsessed for doing what is (slowly) becoming standard practice 30 years later. Clinical research was in place to support lowering carbs/buffering with protein and fat in the early 2000s. It’s been the mainstay of the paleo/keto diet for decades and established lore among gym bros (but based on the studies).

So where on Earth has she been her whole career? To need a continuous glucose monitor to realise that white bread and pain au chocolat causes glucose spikes and energy drops is nothing short of astounding!

And yet all of the above pales in comparison with the following: she says she realised she had a poor glucose response after using the CGM and therefore reduced/buffered her carbs to lessen the glucose spikes. She talks as if she was born with this problem of poor glucose tolerance, implying its innate, genetic but it’s precisely because of eating the diet she has done for years that she’s developed poor glucose tolerance. The constant glucose spikes trigger constant insulin responses until the body becomes insulin resistant. In other words, she was mildly pre-diabetic i.e. had mild meatabolic disease like most people have after decades of eating badly. This is a disease and is reversible, not an innate problem you have to live with!

Reducing the glucose spikes by doing what she’s now doing isn’t managing some idiosyncratic medical problem that some people just happen to have (poor glucose tolerance). The fact Tim Spector wore a CGM and had exactly the same result should be a clue that this is really common: insulin resistance caused by high refined carb diet. Tim said exactly the same thing, implying it was just his lot in life as if it’s innate!

So the message is that what she and Tim are now doing is just eating in a more evolutionarily appropriate manner which will gradually decrease their insulin intolerance (increase insulin sensitivity) over time. Eventually, they will be where they would’ve been if they’d never gone down the road of decades of high refined carb meals. That’s what caused the damage and stopping eating that way will slowly reverse the damage. If they repeat the CGM test in a couple of years, their glucose spikes will be lower, for the same foods, because their insulin response will be better- they’ll be insulin sensitive and thus the insulin will effectively lower the sugar spike for that same food. Nothing to do with an innate problem- it’s all driven by decades of refined carbs and is reversible.

This myopia on something so ludicrously simple is because ZOE and many other nutritionists have wilfully ignored the high refined carb= poor insulin sensitivity axis as a result of being captured by the Harvard School of Nutrition
mantra on veganism and meat being terrible for us. Even the gym bros are way ahead of them on understanding how this works: cutting refined carbs/sugar and eating healthy carbs for pure natural energy, not coma inducing glucose spikes.

[lindaj]

5:02 … asked about the future of nutritional science: “… exciting … excited… we can give advice to people that’s personalised” AKA “We’ll ask you to send us your poo samples, then charge you for our analysis and tell you to eat more yoghurt and fermented foods.” And a “snack lunch” in February including fresh raspberries & blueberries, with Comté cheese: high cost, high airmiles. Let’s see a video explaining how to eat healthily when you’re having to rely on a food bank.

[jas]

I find it refreshing to see/hear snacking is not bad as such. As someone with GI problems and struggling with an ED I find I need to eat little and often but it’s so easy to feel bad about this when we are bombarded with IF and TRE being the way to go.

[andreesmith]

I'm doing the ZOE blood sugar tests at the moment. Very surprised how just having a bowl of plain Greek Yoghurt with a banana levelled out my blood glucose spike. Thank you Dr Sarah Berry and the ZOE Team, you're helping me to improve my diet, so hopefully I will live a long and healthy life. 🤗

[kmdale]

Love zoe and dr Sarah Berry and even more so after giving us the word Nutribollocks 🤣🤣

[elizabethheike]

Please, please don't play background music. Completely distracting, annoying and unnecessary with an academic podcast.

[carolinerowland]

Love Zoe films but agree music is too loud and preferably should be removed

[cichlisuite]

Great information and good to hear a personal perspective from someone who actually knows what they’re talking about. That background music is truly awful though and I say that as someone who loves music and has it playing a lot of my day.

[popgeddy]

Please put the canned music back in the can 🤫🤫, spoilt a perfectly good message guys 🤦‍♂️

[annalisette]

I have a tremendous amount of respect for ZOE and what Dr. Specter and others are doing. I am also pleased to see that Sarah's snack is at least appealing.

In a video quite awhile ago Dr. Specter described his daily diet and it impressed me as very unappealing which leaves me wondering if optimum health requires that we 'eat to live' rather than the hedonistic 'live to eat'. Or is there a happy medium?

Perhaps changes like less processed food and sugars can make people feel better and improve mental health. On the other hand, if meals and snacks become bland, in some cases unappetizing, will that be one less positive hedonic experience in already difficult lives?

Our grandparents came through disasters of the last century such as world wars and shortages and the Depression when many were hungry. After WWII, the trend was bountiful food, overloaded plates and 'baby fat' in children being good. Sometime around the 1970's in the U.S. fast food and processed foods took over, and in most families both parents worked so there was less time for home meal preparation.

In developed nations like the U.S. where there are high rates of clinical depression and mental illness, I wonder if most pleasures of eating must be traded for improved health? Salads, fruits, nuts, etc. can be very good but they also become boring. I foresee those who want optimum health having meals that are simply the chores of existence similar to fueling a car. Something that is necessary and quickly to be forgotten.

[mitchellmendys]

Woo Hooo ! Love the Science ! Love the presentation ! Love Dr. Sarah !!!
Love putting it all into ACTIVE practice !
Woo Hooo ! 75 'n' Groovily Alive !
🥰☮☯🥗🌈

[mirandaturner]

Sorry, I cannot focus on what Dr Berry is saying for the intrusive music. Turn it down please!

[lindaj]

3:30+ “If a food is too healthy to be enjoyed, it’s just not healthy at all.” What does that cute-sounding slogan actually mean? Please give us some examples of “too healthy” foods!

[vatsmith]

Do you keep the radio on in the background deliberately in order to make it more difficult to hear what is being said?

[gaywatton]

Agree stop the music! Could not take in information. Had to stop it and replay silent with transcript.

[angelajordan]

Ruined by distraction of unnecessary music!

[andreesmith]

Great advice, especially if I have the urge to snack. 😊

[paulcarey]

So basically Zoe is a continuous glucose monitor. I want to try one and see what causes my blood sugar to spike. I’ve always had a varied diet and probably the last 10 years been mindful of sugar so have a lot of eggs and protein for breakfast sometimes with tomatoes or spinach, always cook fresh meals maybe a takeaway 1-2 times a month active job as a crash technician but always struggle with my weight but only around my mid section, scan revealed fat in my liver so really want to sort it out before I’m 50 ideally